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Friday, June 6, 2014

Sepia Saturday: When One Door Opens

Sepia Saturday challenges bloggers to share family
history through old photographs.

This week’s Sepia Saturday photo prompt is actually NO
prompt at all. HomoSepians are free to
do whatever they please this week. My answer
to the Open Theme is an Open Door.

Lillie Killeen holding John Jr.
1917 New York

This door was somewhere in New York in 1917. The occasion might have been the birth of
this baby, perhaps the son of my grandaunt Lillie Killeen’s cousin.

Maybe John SENIOR?

Probably this is the baby’s father. But what is his name?

The door might be open, but I can’t get inside the
house. I thought this thin little photo
album housing the memories of trips to New York between 1917 and 1921 would be
the key that would unlock the mystery of my great grandmother Mary Theresa
Sheehan Killeen Walsh’s life.

Mary Theresa emigrated from Ireland in 1886. Very little is known about her family prior
to marriage in New York. But I do know
that she made many trips to New York to visit her family. She had a number of sisters and at least one
brother, but they have been difficult to study.

So thanks to my grandaunt’s habit of MAYBE supplying
dates but NOT names, this door is locked tight!

The Bronx 1921
Probably one and maybe 2 of the Sheehan sisters
and the mother of "Bob" and John Jr.

Is this John Jr's grandfather?
I wonder if he is
Mary Theresa's brother.

40 comments:

Delightful idea! Many folks like posing at the door. When our children were small I'd take a picture of them each year on the first day of school; posing at out front door with their lunch boxes in hand. ha!

I love your theme for today...and I have that door....the one in the first pictures! At a craft fair I bought a door with a small table attached to the front that fits perfectly in my entry hall. When I bring my camera home from work I will send you a photo.TGIF!

When there were few cameras with flash attachments, or a need for bright lights to take pictures inside, everyone knew you had to step outside for a portrait that would show up on film. The search for knowing identities of these folks leads onward with your sleuthing. Did you do any work with Ancestry.com? I find lots of pictures are now being posted there, and can be downloaded into my own collection.

Yes, I live in Ancestry! Mary Theresa's sisters are just hard to find -- too many Sarah Burns/Byrne/Burnes/Byrnes. Too many Josephine Burns/Byrne/Burnes/Byrnes -- plus my aunt is now unsure whether she was actually a Burns at all! Too many John Sheehans.

When we inherited a box full of loose photographs of my husband's grandmother and grandfather and grand aunts and uncles without names, places, or dates written on the backs of them, we were lucky enough to have one of his aunts (his mother's youngest sister, age 98!) still living who has been able to help us identify most of the people as well as the places and likely dates the pictures were taken. But the struggle to gain the information has me going back into our own photo albums to pull out pictures & write dates, names, & places on the back of them so they can be identified OUTSIDE of the album!

If only someone - anyone - had written names on the backs of photos! That's how I feel about my unidentified photographs. I really like the photo of mom and baby but they're great photos. I porch where the ladies sit looks beautiful, with all the iron and woodwork detail. It's fun to see the shadows of the beaded trim at the top of the porch. It looks like there's a sign on the window at right that says "Cleaners." Hmmm. (It's so much better to look at the photos in feedly because they are very large and clear.)

Yeah, that "Cleaners" got me too -- in fact, Mary Theresa's sister Delia and her husband William Christian ran a dry cleaners, but it was much later than this photo -- in the census 1930, but in 1920 they were in New Jersey, which is closer to the time of this photo. Is it too much coincidence? I might have to rethink this.

Woulr john's Grandpa by any chance be wearing a New York policeman or fireman's unifrom and if so do those departments have any searchable record where you could loolk for the family names ? Just a thought. some interesting doors there.

So many unanswered questions arising from those photographs, but at least you have them and can speculate about the people and stories behind them, and hope that some day the answers may somehow be revealed, perhaps by finding more photographs.

That’s a neat trick; the open door with the lace curtain is a much prettier backdrop than the brickwork it’s hiding! The Bronx picture benefts from enlarging I think; I wonder what the little boy was doing with his eyes.

Yes, I like seeing that Bronx picture enlarged, mainly because I get a better look at the young woman who just has to be mother to the two little ones. What IS John Jr. doing with his eyes? Was he sleepy? Was he looking into the sun? (Doesn't look that sunny.) Was he making binoculars?

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About Me

My name is Wendy. About twenty years ago, I helped my mother research the Jolletts. Since retiring from teaching, I have expanded my research which I share here. When I’m not looking for my own family, I index for FamilySearch and the Greene County Historical Society.
Welcome to Jollett Etc. Please leave a comment to let me know you were here. If you have more information or believe we are related, EMAIL ME at wendymath at cox dot net